MAHATMA Gandhi said, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you (and call you loons), then they fight you, and then you win”.

Whether the words reported in swivelgate were said, or were the figment of press delusion, there is a history of leadership disdain for activists and those whose arguments they cannot counter or cannot be bothered to refute. Activists have been called “Turnip Taliban, nutters on the internet, loons and fruitcakes”. When trying to lobby for an alternative approach, they have even had email access blocked.

What makes all of this so hilariously comical, is that the Cameroons have chosen to go into coalition with a party containing in my opinion a refuge of loons and a whole bakery of friutcakes.

CLLR TONY WOODCOCK, Civic Centre, Poole